Glimpses of glory

My goal each year is to grow stronger in the Lord and stronger in my prayer life. The first of each new year will find me very diligently studying and seeking ways to improve in this area.

I am drawn like a bear to honey to any book, sermon, study or article that has to do with prayer. But no matter how much I try, it seems I never attain to the depth I am yearning for.

By the middle of the year, I am discouraged, wondering what happened. Too often distractions, interruptions, (the dog,) the demands of the day (or even loved ones) will rob me of that special time set aside for Him. The mornings slip away, my time with the Lord seems not to bring me to a place of being fully satisfied.  Please understand, I am not looking for some great, emotional high, just a deeper awareness that I have really connected with God. My prayer life: I feel I am very immature in it. I need help. I need somebody to teach me how to pray more fervently, more effectively, more faithfully.

In connection with that discouragement, I have also continued to ask myself, "what kind of fruit am I producing?" Should I not be producing better fruit in these mature years? What is the matter with me? 

From time to time, I will receive strong affirmation from the Spirit or the Word that I am on the right track, or some instruction leading me. One morning I awakened and could sense Holy Spirit reminding me of the time the disciples were unable to cast out a demon. The fact was that these men were Jesus' disciples, they were believers, they prayed, but nothing was happening. When they asked Jesus why they weren't able to cast out the demon, He told them it was their lack of faith. I believed Holy Spirit was saying to me that I am praying, but do I have faith? Yes, I must have some degree of faith or I wouldn't be praying to a God I cannot see. But do I have real faith? Faith that moves mountains? Sometimes people pray, but they pray without faith. 

This morning was one of those mornings where time slipped away ... and so was yesterday. Having gotten up extra early to ready the upstairs bathrooms for repairmen who were to come work on the floors, I was disappointed again by the loss of that precious time with the Lord, only to hear from the workers that work would not be done again today. I wasn't as angry as I was simply irritated at time wasted and knowing another day would have to be set aside for the repairs.

So as I got into my car to run an errand, I turned the radio on and the voice of David Jeremiah came on speaking about prayer ... "Praying always with all prayer." YES! Just what I needed to hear. What he had to say greatly encouraged me. He spoke truth that I knew. His encouraging words resonated with me because prayer life is not just saying a prayer in the special time we set aside for prayer. It is my whole life. It is a continual conversation with God. It is an open conversation. A believer's phone to Heaven should always be left off the hook. A believer ALWAYS has access to the Father because of Jesus. I speak to Him constantly. He speaks to me. Our conversing is ongoing. So thankful the Lord directed me to be in the car at just that perfect time.

Later in the day on Facebook, one of my "like" pages, Gotquestions.org question today was "What is the key to Bearing Fruit?" whoa! How timely was that article.

Lord, I thank You for revealing Yourself to me, time after time. You hear my prayer asking You to teach me. You are teaching me. I pray for good ears to listen and hear. I believe. You help my unbelief. All things are possible. Only believe.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.

I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

(Psalm 32:8)

You have positively got to stay in love with and trust the Father who will be there at just the right time to keep you encouraged.

The statement that our phone to Heaven should be left off the hook reminded me of a song in one of my Mother's old songbooks. I can even hear her singing it now. 

The Royal Telephone

Central’s never “busy,” always on the line;

You may hear from heaven almost any time;

’Tis a royal service, free for one and all;

When you get in trouble, give this royal line a call.

Refrain:

Telephone to glory, oh, what joy divine!

I can feel the current moving on the line,

Built by God the Father for His loved and own,

We may talk to Jesus through this royal telephone.

-Frederick Lehman

And today?**

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

**This post was written on July 1.

How I Spent the REST of my summer vacation!

or What happens when your plans get waylaid!!!

Sandwiched in between our fantastic trip to Ohio and the Southeastern U.S. in April, and our trip to the beach in June, I had a lower back molar decide to give me heck! And I'm not kidding!  All the poking and probing and pulling by the dentist, the endodontist, and oral surgeon, caused my jaw to continue screaming out in pain for about a month. Because of it, I missed out on a week of my birthday celebrations and more importantly, our sweet Kate's graduation from transitional kindergarten. Now, making up for lost birthday luncheons are one thing, but missing Kate's event made me very sad!

As a pirate for her
class presentation!

Soooooooooooooooo, after making somewhat of a recovery from "the tooth" episode, life resumed with what appeared to be a very pleasant summer ahead to be enjoyed. Nice temperatures for Texas, occasional unexpected rain showers, planting flowers, enjoying the kids, the 4th of July, and looking forward to the annual boat bash in July for our grandson Noah's birthday party.

Early in the week of the highly anticipated boat party at Lake Travis, Dear Heart surprised me by saying he was too tired for it and would I mind if we didn't go. Well, for him to admit to being too tired for a fun time at the lake was just a little out of the norm for him, so I readily agreed that we should stay home. I then decided maybe this might be a good time to get the tooth implant on the road. So I scheduled it for that Friday.

On Thursday, the day before the implant, I was playing with our grandson, Jack, having the best time with him as we took turns throwing ourselves down on his beanbag chair, wrestling, and me swinging him around.

The day following the implant, as my husband and I sat visiting after breakfast, the most excruciating pain came into my abdomen and all around my back and I was unable to breathe. After heaving up everything I had consumed for the past two days, I thought that would be the end of that, but it was not to be. Two trips to the emergency room, and before you could say Jack Robinson, I found myself checked in and hooked up to all kinds of IVs, leg pumps, oxygen regulator, and, worst of all, NO FOOD! Well, maybe that wasn't the worst!

Five days of pain and undergoing CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, and sonograms, gall bladder and pancreas problems were ruled out and it was FINALLY determined that I had a duodenal ulcer and surgery was scheduled for the next day. Two weeks in the hospital, and after being home now for three full weeks (sporting a 6 inch incision), I am just now beginning to feel stronger and yes, in another month I will hopefully be back to my old self.

Very thankful 

So many blessings I can't count them.
Thankful the tooth didn't choose to erupt while on either of our vacations away from home!
Thankful for the fact that I wasn't out on a big party boat in the middle of Lake Travis when the ulcer decided to blow!
Thank You, Lord for seeing me through all of this! Every. Single. Day.

I'm thankful for my husband.
My family. Friends. Prayers. My church.

Every person who came to visit.

I had visitors every day. 

Phone calls from loved ones

A few of the beautiful flowers I received.

Lots of Cards

One of my personal favorites

Our daughter, Sara, came to stay with us for the first five days to so graciously wait on me, shop, help around the house, do laundry, etc. Later, she came back for another visit and brought Noah a/k/a Captain America with her!

My sister-in-love, Susan, came three different times and also shopped for groceries and cooked for Dear Heart.

A sample of her good cooking!
Was I able to eat any of that food? NO!

My brother, my sister, our church family, every person blessed me with their loving concern.

Me with my sister and niece

My brother and Susan

Lively entertainment when I finally came home

Kate and Jack loved having Aunt Sara
come play with them.

I am happy and very grateful to say that today I am feeling more "normal" than I have since that awful Saturday five weeks ago!

The rest of the story.

Never before have I experienced any stomach problems. Eating has always been a pleasure for me and pretty much I eat just about whatever I want. So in trying to determine the cause of this, all the doctors who saw me pinned it down and put the blame on: Ibuprofen! Ibuprofen is not something I take on a regular basis. However, throughout the abscessed tooth episode described above, I was told to take it every four hours for the pain. My husband warned me not to! The pain and the dentists won out. And yes, I read the warning labels on the bottle.

This medicine may cause the following problems:
Bleeding and ulcers in the stomach or intestines!
Higher risk of heart attack or stroke.
Liver damage.
Kidney damage.
Vision problems.

It isn't my desire to be preachy or scary here. I just hope my telling this helps someone and gives you cause to stop and re-consider how badly you need a medication before taking it.